WaterLife: Nitrate & Nitrite Test

[mushi]

hi! Can anyone Help?

I bought WaterLife brand Nitrate and Nitrite test. Im some what confused on how to do the test! unsure if im doing them properly! the instructions i recieved with the package follows as:

-Fill vial with test water, add 1 measure of Zinc powder and 11 drops of reactant 1 (contains less than 9% HCl).
- Then add 11 drops of Reactant A (contains Sulphuric Acid & Acetic Scid)
- Shake and leave to stand for 2min
- Then add Reactant B (contains 8 Amino 2 Naphthalene Suplfonic Acid & Acetic Acid)
- Shake and leave for 15min for colour to develop.

Does anyone know if water contains Nitrates?
i did a blind test of tap water and also tested my tank water, following the above instructions and got a reading of 150ppm???

THIS IS THE CONFUSING PART!

I also did the Nitrite test with my tank water, following these instructions:
-Fill vile with test water
-Add 5drops Reactant A and 5 drops of Reactant B
- shake and leave to stand for 20min for colour to develop.

from this test i got the pale pink colour, indication that i have <5ppm Nitrite level. SO! Therefore i have a NitrATE level of (5 x 10) = 50ppm ?!?!

SO...
WHICH LEVEL IS CORRECT??
WHAT ARE THE ACCPETABLE LEVELS FOR Nitrate & Nitrite??
and
Does water contain Nitrate??

-------------------------------------
Tank Info:
5gal (over stocked! in process of gettin new tank! hopefully thurs!!)
Water change every week 25%

 

[semper fi]

first of all i would chuck that test kit out the window and get one that is more user friendly. they even have dipstick test kits where you take a sample of the water and just put the stick or strip in for the alloted time and viola! results.

second how long has this tank been set up? the cycle is the fish create the ammonia, the ammonia is converted to nitrites and then to nitrates. got a simple rule to remember the order. a is first. the take the two n words, nitrite and nitrate. look at the very end of ammonIA and you have the order of them.

there are no acceptable levels of any of these. they ideally should all be zero. you did not post what your ammonia is at. yes, tap water can contain nitrites and nitrates. you should always test your tap water before doing a water change. you say the tank is over stocked. you should try doing water changes twice a week instead of once. also did you add the fish all at once or let your bacteria grow to handle the load of the tank? if you increase the load on the tank, you can crash your tank. the load is the amount of waste produced by the inhabitants to create the ammonia, nitrites and nitrates in the tank. fish have to be added slowly so the biological filter of the tank that helps to rid the tank of the toxins can keep up.

if the tank was not properly cycled or not finished cycling your biological filter may not be established which can prevent your tank from creating the bacteria neccessary to remove the toxins.

need a little more information to address your problem.

maggie

 

[bigfish]

Hi

I know that testing the water is quite stressful, I use a dry tablet test kit by Interpet which cost me £24-99 from Pets At Home and contained 20 tests for each of the following Ammonnia, Nitrite, Nitrate, Broad Range PH. all you do is fill the test vial to required level drop a tablet in shake and wait for the result (5mins)

Volia so easy. if i was you i would keep a diary of all the results made, days you do water changes, when you added new fish etc. Helps you identify problems in the future.

Goodluck.

Let me Know how you get on.

 

[mushi]

HI! Thanx Semper

I've had the tank for about 8months now, before that my friend had the tank for about a year and half! She didnt have the time to take care of them properly! so i took the tank off her hands!.

I bought 2 sunset platies about a month ago, as far as new fish are concerned - so far they are o.k

Ammonia = 0.20/0.50mgs colour pretty similiar hard to tell. very pale greeny/yellow

pH = 7.8

Thanx Bigfish ! i'll look into gettin some better test kits!!!

But as far as my problems!, just wanted to knw if my test kits were working properly! I'll Just get Some New Ones instead!

Thx for the help!

 

[Elisabeth]

I use the Esha Aqua test kit
Its one of those dipstick tet kits that Semper Fi was talking about. Its £11.75 for 25 tests, - (it also tests for PH and water hardness). Its so quick and simple to use and you should be able to get it from your local LF.
Before I was recommended them, I used to use the individual kits - the put 7 drop of one liquid, add 14 of another, 10 of a third, do 20 cartwheels, teach a monkey Spanish variety Unbelievably complicated and took forever.

 

[mushi]

Thanx! Eliz!
Taking the advice!, have ordered Esha Test kit! found it for £9.25!? on this following site!

http/www.aquatics-online.co.uk/acatalog/..._Aqua_Test.html

Have ordered a few other things too! that i needed to get!! Thanx for the HELP ppl.!